For those of you who are wondering what's going on in Rochester: ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The defending USL champion Rochester Rhinos are looking for a new owner. The league has stepped in after it terminated Rob Clark’s ownership of the team on Tuesday. According to the league’s website, the team failed to meet league standards including both internal and external operations. The USL said it stepped in after Clark reportedly told league officials that he was not committed to rectify those issues after several months of effort by officals and team stakeholders. Former local indoor soccer team owner "Soccer Sam" Fantauzzo sees the move as a positive one but he thinks Rochester's sports teams need more support from area businesses and residents. "Based on what's going on downtown and all the growth, you need pro sports teams to draw young people here," Fantauzoo said. "That's a huge thing for young people and young families to do here. So I think everyone in city politics is smart enough to know that you need to do everything in your power to keep pro sports teams alive in the city to keep our city virbrant." We are told the the league is currently operating the franchise ahead of the 2016 season, and all staff and personnel are being retained. Now the organization says officials are in Rochester working with stakeholders on the team's long-term success. http://www.twcnews.com/nys/rocheste...nos-owner-terminated-by-league-officials.html
Charleston affiliates with Atlanta. http://www.uslsoccer.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=32800&ATCLID=210639790
Here's a nice serving of crow. Enjoy! http://www.uslsoccer.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=32800&ATCLID=210639086
Interesting, I know. Wendy Dworkin is a first cousin of Les Harrison, the original owner/coach of the Rochester Royals from back in the 50's. The Royals eventually became the Kings after moving several times (to Cincinnati, then to KC, before finally settling in Sacramento in 85). She and her husband David joined an investment team in 2013 to buy a part of the Kings, when it looked like they were headed to Seattle.
Reno has narrowed the list of possible names down to six: Reno FC (boring) FC Reno (just as boring) Reno Silver FC (slightly less boring and sounds like a 2nd level youth comp league) Reno City FC (please, let's not over saturate soccer with the name City) Reno United FC (talk about over saturation!) Reno 1868 (maybe the best of a bad bunch) Not that I'm a branding genius, but they should go back to the drawing board. Ponderosa FC? What say you?
Fifteen teams in the west for 2016, including a switch by St. Louis from east to west. I have no idea what the color coding of the states means. Can anyone else detect a pattern? As for the playoffs, eight teams from each conference participate in a single elimination tournament. No first round byes.
They've come out and said it didn't mean anything ... "looked cool" ... so, confusing, but nothing to read into!
Wonder why they switched St Louis to the West? With Reno coming in 2017 and maybe Austin why not keep them in the East? If Austin does not come back then you have two balanced divisions of 15?
With a growing league and the unknown future clubs (you named a couple, but Detroit, Nashville, NYCFC2, etc) in the East that could happen, you're always going to have a team go swap from time to time ... I think they let St. Louis pick (or I'd like to think so) since no matter which Conference they're in, they're going to be traveling more than many of the other teams. Who knows! My guess is their schedule ends up Home & Away vs every team in the west (28 games) and Home & Away vs Louisville. Just a guess though.
Rivalry with KC? Otherwise I don't know. Kind of crappy we have to travel all the way over there to play a team in our conference.
Not much farther than the travel to OKC and Roughnecks. (shrug) In all likelihood, STL will move back to the east when Reno enters and when (not if...when) ATX returns.
"Blackjacks"...somewhat obvious. "Rivermen", maybe - would play well when they become our USL affiliate Maybe we can play on the quickie divorce history..."Quit Claims"..."Residents" maybe?
About another 300 miles. Just means another long(er) road trip. The Eastern conference teams have it so much easier by comparison. Especially considering the league wanted to reduce travel costs to teams, putting St. Louis in the Eastern conference would have been better in the grander scheme of things. But oh well, I look forward to playing them and the Louigans (is that what they're called?) Given the fact that the conferences are uneven to begin with, why give the extra team to the West which has much more travel anyways? Even more reason to have St. Louis in the East. But alas, who knows what the league office is thinking. Especially if they think putting out that map was a quality idea.
Back when Cincinnati was announced there was a news report that Saint Louis asked to move to the West. http://www.courier-journal.com/stor...isville-city-fcs-eastern-conference/31478497/
So strange; why would they prefer the west when there are higher travel costs and times to do so? Did they just want to have the bigger clubs like Republic and Gals 2 come to town, or the KC rivalry? Doesn't make a ton of sense.
Good info. Still not sure how this benefits them, but if they want to be in the West. I was not aware of the Central division that maybe coming which would be awesome.
I'm not privy to STL's thinking, but logic would suggest that STL would want to be in the same division as the Spork Rangers.
And here it is, San Antonio FC Interesting cross branding. I assume that if SA makes it to MLS then Spurs Sports Entertainment will drop the spur. Or will they?
"The creation of the San Antonio FC brand was inspired by the connections between San Antonio’s identity as a city, its unique heritage and the youthful spirit of the emerging soccer culture in the region and throughout the U.S... The shape of San Antonio FC’s badge was derived from a variety of traditional national and international club crests. The heart of the badge contains two prominent elements: the five diagonal stripes, which were inspired by the armed forces’ service stripes, are a salute to San Antonio’s rich military history and their upward movement signifies the club’s goal to play at the highest level; and the rowel of the Spur symbolizes the direct link between San Antonio FC and its parent company, Spurs Sports & Entertainment. Binding all of the interior elements is a single “S”—a subtle nod to our hometown heritage and how it unites us. Black and silver are colors of strength and another element that’s synonymous with SS&E brands. The red accent color is pulled from the same red in the Texas state flag signifying the pride the club has in this state." I had to take a good, long look to recognize the single "S" that binds all of the interior elements. Ummm, nice try. Otherwise, I think this crest works for them while they are at this level. Soccer probably is hot enough in SA they don't need the Spurs' cross branding, but whatever. Edit: Forgot the link.
Uh oh. We trail Bethlehem Steel by a sizeable margin. Go vote if you love our crest! http://www.poll-maker.com/QXU3LR
It's official. Republic's future USL affiliate, unless we start a Republic 2, is Reno 1868 FC. Reno1868fc.com Colors, crest, etc. to come later.